Clinical characteristics of patients in a case control study of sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis may be affected by sex, race, and age. A Case Control Etiologic Study of Sarcoidosis (ACCESS) enrolled 736 patients with sarcoidosis within 6 mo of diagnosis from 10 clinical centers in the United States. Using the ACCESS sarcoidosis assessment system, we determined organ involvement for the whole group and for subgroups differentiated by sex, race, and age (less than 40 yr or 40 yr and older). The study population was heterogeneous in terms of race (53% white, 44% black), sex (64% female, 36% male), and age (46% < 40 yr old, 54% greater than or equal to 40 yr old). Women were more likely to have eye and neurologic involvement (chi (2) = 4.74 p < 0.05 and chi (2) = 4.60, p < 0.05 respectively), have erythema nodosum (chi (2) = 7.28, p < 0.01), and to be age 40 yr or over (chi (2) = 6.07, p < 0.02) whereas men were more likely to be hypercalcemic (chi (2) = 7.38, p < 0.01). Black subjects were more likely to have skin involvement other than erythema nodosum (chi (2) = 5.47, p < 0.05), and eye (chi (2) = 13.8, p < 0.0001), liver (chi (2) = 23.3, p < 0.0001), bone marrow (chi (2) = 18.8, p < 0.001), and extrathoracic lymph node involvement (chi (2) = 7.21, p < 0.01). We conclude that the initial presentation of sarcoidosis is related to sex, race, and age.